When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision this summer, abortion did not become illegal in the U.S. The court simply ruled (rightly) that there is no right to an abortion in the U.S. Constitution. That returned the question of abortion to the states.

Some states had preexisting pro-life laws that soon sprung to life. Other states responded with new protections for unborn human beings. Some states’ highest courts have claimed a right to abortion was secretly lurking in their state constitutions all along.